She felt more comfortable with him than she’d ever felt with a man. His body was warm and hard against her slim body. To her, it seemed as if their bodies were meant to be together. Chloe felt
good to have a friend. Someone to hug without him trying to feel all over her like she was just some slut. Was she a slut for all she’d done?

“Feeling better?” he asked, still rubbing my back gently.

Of course she felt better. It wasn’t like everyday she got hugged by a man that was only trying to comfort her. How could she not feel better? “A little,” she said, lying right through he teeth.
She felt completely better. She just didn’t admit it. She didn’t want the hug to end. Just having someone’s arms around her made her feel very good.

Chloe hugged him closer, loving the feeling of his muscular body against hers. Only in a comforting way though. Elmo let out a soft snicker. “I think maybe your enjoying this hug a little too
much.”

Her face turned crimson with embarrassment. Lucky, he couldn’t see it because it was against his chest. When she thought her color was back, she let him go and he let her go. Having his body away
from hers, no longer giving her heat made her feel so…cold.

“Wanna talk about why you do what you do? The prostituting?”

She bit her lip. He was her friend and all but she didn’t like talking about the prostitution thing. It was too embarrassing and uncomfortable to talk about. All the things she’d done with all
those different people. How could she talk about that? “I’m sorry but I don’t wanna talk about it.” She brushed light brown hair behind her ears and looked up at Elmo.

He shook his head with understanding. He could never really understand completely until she told him something about it but until then, he pretend to understand. Instead, he just changed the
subject. “Where do you live?”

The question of the hour. Oh, she didn’t want to tell him that at all. He was sure to tell her she had to go home. She didn’t want to go home at all. She wanted to be somewhere warm, safe,
secure, relaxed and cozy. She wanted to be with Elmo. She hadn’t even been there for the long and already she knew that she wanted to live under his roof.

“I-uh…don’t have a place to live,” I stuttered the lie.

“You should go into a shelter or something. You can’t be outside at night sleeping just anywhere. Where do you sleep at night?”

He cares? Someone actually cares about her? How great! “I sleep, uh…in the guys houses that I prostitute. Some are nice enough to let me stay.” That lie made her feel so bad.

“You stay here for the night and tomorrow we’ll get you into a shelter,” he explained.

She couldn’t let him make the decision to let her go into a shelter. She was on a role with her lies. She had to make up a lie to change his mind about making her go into a shelter. “I can’t go
into a shelter,” she blurted out.

“Why not?” he folded his arms across his chest.

“Because umm…” She couldn’t think of any lie to say. Not even one. But the truth, she could say. She sighed. “I wanna be here with you.”

He arched a brow. “What?” Through his word, she felt rejection. But she still continued with her explanation.

“Your like the only person that actually cares about me. Everyone else, at home, school and on the streets want something from me the moment they see me. You’re the only person that would ever give
me a hug that really meant something. Something that makes me feel…happy. I don’t want to go into a shelter. I don’t want to go home. I just want to be here where I know their’s some sort
of…protection from the world or something. Please, let me stay. I promise I won’t be any disturbance to you or your regular life. Please, Elmo I’m begging you.”